The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is set for the arrival of another ‘national’ carrier after it was revealed in the local press that a start-up is planning to inaugurate flights from Fujairah by January 2012. The airline, Al Hajjar Air has already held informal discussions with Fujairah International Airport and the Department of Civil Aviation and is finalising the last stage of funding ahead of its launch. It is being touted as a low-cost carrier although executives at the company have confirmed that although it will offer low fares, it will provide a full onboard service.
The carrier is initially looking to serve the main Gulf Cooperation Council hubs such as Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Muscat, Riyadh, Kuwait, later expanding into the Levant states and the Indian subcontinent. It is expected to acquire a fleet of 70-seat turboprop aircraft and is understood to have looked very closely at the model of UK low-fare regional carrier Flybe while formalising its own business plan.
Al Hajjar Air says it has selected Fujairah as its base following a “thorough due diligence investigation of scheduled air services in the UAE”. It claims that “Fujairah has the potential of being a tourist hot spot” but that currently any potential passenger “must drive at least one hour to an airport in Dubai or Sharjah to catch a flight.”
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